“Hull was Canada’s Superman,” author Garey Joyce wrote in “The Devil and Bobby Hull,” a 2011 book about Mr. Hull’s life before and after he was accused of spousal abuse and racism.

A flashy, marketable player who scored goals on teams, Mr. Hall was one of the NHL’s biggest stars during the Original Six era, when there were only six teams in Chicago, Boston, Detroit, Montreal, New York and Toronto.

Mr. Hull’s on-ice runs brought fans to their feet as he turned a relatively new shooting style — the slap shot — into an offensive weapon, scoring 50 or more goals in a season. He was on. Sports Illustrated cover Five times, then an unprecedented feat for a hockey player and a major vindication for the sport itself.

He passed his skills on to one of his sons, Hockey Hall of Famer Brett Hall, who scored more goals than his father. Mr. Hall’s brother Dennis, nicknamed “Silver Jet,” also played with him for many years in Chicago.

In 1961, Mr. Hall and a teammate Stan Mikita He helped the Montreal Canadiens end their streak of five consecutive Stanley Cups, then lost. Gordie HoweDetroit Red Wings, 4 games to 2, to give Chicago its first championship in 23 years. The team would not win another title until 2010.

“I thought I was going to have a lot of these back then,” Mr. Hall told Joyce about his only Stanley Cup victory at age 22.

In his 15 NHL seasons with Chicago, Mr. Hall has racked up NHL career goals. He led the league in scoring seven times, a record that stood for 50 years before Washington Capitals winger Alex Ovechkin bested it in 2019. He led the NHL in points three times and was a 10-time NHL First Team All-Star.

In the year In 1968, Mr. Hull felt his popularity did not match his salary, so he resigned to earn more money. The Blackhawks called their bluff and, with no better options, Mr. Hall returned to the team at a reasonable salary. He was fined and had to apologize publicly for missing part of the season.

This was the beginning of the end for Mr. Hall in Chicago, but it was also the beginning of an era when superstar athletes made millions of dollars.

“The name of the game now is money,” Mr. Hull said. Picture supported sport In the year In 1972, when he negotiated with the World Hockey League, the World Hockey Association, he got what he wanted.

With much fanfare, including a large, cardboard check, Mr. Hull signed with the Winnipeg Jets for $1.75 million over 10 years as a player-coach, plus a $1 million signing bonus — far more than he ever made in the NHL. Other NHL players like Howe also fled to the WHA.

In the WHA, Mr. Hall won championships and scored trophies, but his success came at a high price. Team Canada did not allow anyone but NHL players to attend the Soviet 1972 Summit.

I wanted to play more than anything. But those big NHL officials decided to pay me back. Mr. Hull later told The Associated Press.. The rules were soon changed, and Mr. Hall was able to play in the 1974 Summit Series. (USSR won 4-1-3.)

Late in his career, after the NHL bought the WHA, Mr. Hull was traded to the Hartford Vols, where he played briefly with Howe.

Unlike the star players of his era, who hung on to their laurels and remained tied to hockey, Mr. Hull’s relationship with the Black Hawks was strained over a salary dispute. In the year Agriculture and livestock in Ontario.

Robert Marvin Hull Jr. was born on January 3, 1939 in Port Ann, Ontario. He was the fifth child and eldest son of 11. His father, a cement company foreman and a farmer, encouraged his children to play hockey.

Mr. Hall played football at St. Catharines High School, playing field hockey for St. Catharines in the Junior Ontario Hockey Association, the highest amateur league in Canada. Showing exemplary skills on the ice at a young age, Mr. Hall dropped out of high school and signed with the Blackhawks.

Mr. Hall has been a popular figure in hockey over the years, often signing autographs and doing charity work in the hours after games. But events off the ice painted a dark picture for the one-time winner of the NHL’s Lady Byng Trophy for “gentlemanship.”

He has been married at least three times and two of his wives have accused him of physical abuse. Some of his children said he was a dodgy father and drank too much. In the year He pleaded guilty in 1987 after a domestic dispute with his wife Deborah Assaulting a police officer They were called to the place. Fined $150 and six months of court supervision.

In the year In 1998 For the Russian newspaper Because he had some “good ideas” about Adolf Hitler. Asked in the same interview whether he was racist, Mr Hull said: “I don’t give a damn.” I am not running for any political office.

Mr Hall later insisted that a Moscow Times reporter had misquoted him.

In a statement, he wrote: “I am outraged by the false statements made against Adolf Hitler and the black community of the United States.” He is said to have sued the Moscow Times and the Toronto Sun for reprinting the interview, which was stopped by the report. Those charges were settled out of court, said his attorney, Tim Danson.

In the year In 2002, ESPN released a “SportsCentury” profile detailing these events as well as domestic violence. One of his ex-wives, figure skater Joan McKay, who is the mother of his five children, including Brett, has accused Mr Hall of once beating her with a steel-toed shoe.

His daughter, Michelle Hull, became a lawyer working with battered women, a choice she says was inspired by Mr. Hull’s treatment of her mother, Joan.

Nevertheless, the Blackhawks tapped the two-time NHL MVP to become a team ambassador in 2007 and installed life-sized bronze statues of him and Mikita outside the United Center, where the Blackhawks play. (The Blackhawks changed their team name to the Blackhawks in 1986.)

“If I had it to do over again, I’d probably drink more,” Mr. Hall jokes in the book.When the Final Buzzer Sounds: NHL Greats Share Their Stories of Tribulation and Triumph” published in 2000.

Then he added: “I want to think more!” Write that down! Rethinking can get you into trouble like anything else.”